THE East African Community (EAC) table-top simulation exercise (TTX) organized by the EAC Secretariat together with partner states and other technical partners has successfully tested activation of the recently established regional rapidly deployable expert pool.

The simulation exercise was part of a three-day workshop that was opened by a joint training of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (WHO AFRO).

Speaking during the closing ceremony of the training in Nairobi on Thursday, Dr Eric Nzeyimana, Principal Health Officer at the EAC said the simulation exercise using lessons learnt and recommendations, puts the region in a good place and better prepared for outbreaks of epidemics and pandemics in future.

Dr Nzeyimana who spoke on behalf of  EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Infrastructure, Productive, Social and Political sectors Andrea Ariik said the key objective of TTX was to identify strengths and areas of improvement for collaboration and coordination at national, regional and continental level in an outbreak scenarios and to develop a roadmap, including recommendations on how to integrate the EAC rapidly deployable expert pool  to allow for joint planning, deployments and capacity development.

A TTX is a facilitated discussion under a low stress environment where participants meet to discuss their roles during an emergency and to practice, evaluate and identify areas for improvement in their responses to a particular scenario.

The training aimed at strengthening capacities and knowledge among partner states’ and EAC experts in relation to regional and continental guidelines and mechanisms in place for rapid response, cantering around the African Health Volunteers Corps and Strengthening and Utilizing Response Groups for Emergencies (AVoHC-SURGE) initiative, implemented across the continent.

Dr Radjabu Bigirimana, AVoHC Lead at the Africa CDC, highlighted the mutual benefits of the close collaboration between the EAC Secretariat and the Africa CDC through the AVoHC-SURGE initiative. He said: "A collaboration framework is under development that will allow us to join forces in outbreak response through joint rostering of experts, capacity building and deployments inside the EAC and on the continent."

Dr Arisekola Ademola Jinadu, Technical Officer IHR Monitoring and Evaluation Framework reminded participants on the importance to follow-up on the outcomes and recommendations of the simulation exercise at all levels to inform other ongoing preparedness and response efforts.

The training and the TTX brought together more than 50 experts from health, environment and livestock sectors in charge of emergency preparedness and response in the EAC partner states as well as the EAC Secretariat, WHO AFRO, Africa CDC, Deutsche GIZ, GmbH and the German Epidemic Preparedness Team (SEEG) who together simulated a response to a cross-border Ebola virus outbreak in the EAC region.